Canucks assign Bolduc to Moose

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KEN WIEBE, QMI Agency

Dec 2, 2010

, Last Updated: 4:10 PM ET

The Manitoba Moose roster was bolstered on Thursday by the addition of Alexandre Bolduc.

Bolduc, 25, was assigned to the American Hockey League club and the gritty centre should give the team a shot in the arm as they prepare to face the Oklahoma City Barons on Friday and Saturday at MTS Centre.

Bolduc has appeared in only one game this season with the parent Vancouver Canucks and he suffered a high ankle sprain in that contest that has kept him on the shelf until now.

Injuries have limited Bolduc to 23 NHL games over the past three seasons, but when healthy he’s an effective player.

In 207 AHL games with the Moose, Bolduc has 39 goals and 92 points.

“He gives us someone who has played here before and played in the NHL. He’s someone that guys are going to look up to,” said Moose centre Marco Rosa. “It’s good to have him back.”

The Moose landed at James Richardson International Airport on Thursday afternoon on the heels of a frustrating road trip that saw them finish up 1-2-0-2 and slip to 11-7-0-3 overall.

“We should have had way more points than we did,” said Moose captain Nolan Baumgartner. “We blew one on (Thursday) night and we weren’t ready right off the bat and it cost us. In Chicago, we took a late penalty and against a power play like that, you can’t be doing that. Four points, I guess we’ll have to take it but right now our objective is to get four points this upcoming weekend.”

Moose head coach Claude Noel revealed that centre Mario Bliznak, who sat out Thursday’s 6-3 loss to the Milwaukee Admirals, remains day-to-day with a hand injury while Winnipegger Kevin Clark will be out of the lineup long-term with an “upper-body” injury.

The puck drops at 7:35 p.m. on Friday and Saturday at the downtown arena.